I'm back following a few days of blog absence due to my travels to Amsterdam for Stampin' Up!'s Onstage Live this week. More about that in another post; for today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my turn to host this week and I have a fun colour challenge for us to work with:

I made my card for today last week before leaving for Onstage Live in Amsterdam and was a little time-stretched so needed something quite quick and easy and the sketch layout over at Fab Friday was perfect for such a card. Having had the opportunity to have a sneak peek of some of the amazing florals from the rest of the Design Team I decided to go for an alternative look and pulled out my Oh So Succulent stamp set to create a super simple card - take a look:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Layered Succulents - I decided to stamp a variety of succulents and rather than use a mask to create dimension, I decided to cut them all out using the co-ordinating Succulent Framelit Dies and just rearrange them until I was happy, adding some of them with dimensionals for a more 3D effect. A much quicker solution and when your pushed for time, much more sensible!

Rock and Roll Succulents - I stamped some of my succulents exclusively in Mint Macaron and others in Mint Macaron then rolled the edge of the stamp into my Perfect Plum ink pad before stamping to give a variegated effect.

Back to Black - I decided to heat emboss my sentiment in white onto Basic Black cardstock instead of using black ink on white to provide a contrast to the black outlined succulents on the white panel. 

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

I do wish I had allowed my trailing succulent to the left of the sentiment to sit over rather than under my sentiment, but hey ho!

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing what you create with this week's colour palette. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; I'm hoping to rest up after my hectic visit and spend a quiet day at home with my family and my new Stampin' Up! catalogue! I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Oh So Succulent Photopolymer Bundle	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Sahara Sand A4 Cardstock	Perfect Plum A4 Cardstock
Perfect Plum Classic Stampin' Pad	Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	White Stampin' Emboss Powder	Versamark Pad

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the lovely Laurie to host this week and she has a fun and timely theme challenge for us to work with:

I took the opportunity to take a break from cards this week and have a couple of quick and easy 3D items perfect for Easter treats for you to choose from. The first one is a basket made with the Window Box Thinlits to hold these cute chocolate carrots that I found when out shopping recently:

The Window Box Thinlits are so versatile and make the cutest Easter baskets! Of course I had to add a little tag with a bunny and fun sentiment and some Peek-a-boo Peach ribbon bows for decoration.

Sticking with the Easter bunny theme, I also made a punch art 'bow bunny' to decorate my little bucket of chocolate mini eggs:

I made my bunny using a combination of my Bow Builder, Festive Flower Builder and Owl Builder Punches, adding a few pearl eyes and some whiskers drawn in with my Stampin' Write marker. Not so sure about this one (I think perhaps his eyes are too far apart!)  Still, an easy way to decorate a treat container or Easter package.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's projects for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing what you create with our fun theme this week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Window Box Thinlits Dies	Basket Bunch Photopolymer Stamp Set	Basket Builder Framelits Dies	Soft Suede A4 Cardstock	Pear Pizzazz A4 Cardstock
Peekaboo Peach 3/8" (1 Cm) Ruched Ribbon	Tags & Labels Framelits Dies	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Classic Label Punch
Many Marvelous Markers

Basket Bunch Photopolymer Stamp Set	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Bow Builder Punch	Festive Flower Builder Punch
Owl Builder Punch	Pink Pirouette A4 Cardstock	Pearl Basic Jewels

To all my UK readers - Happy Mother's Day! It is of course Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! My good friend the super-talented Claire is the hostess this week and she has a sketch for us to work with:

I love a good sketch and this one has some great layering options. I decided that I would use the pretty Spring colours over at Fab Friday to create a basket of flowers for an Easter card - take a look:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

I kept my layers fairly neutral - a stitched circle in Mint Macaron, a panel of Calypso Coral By The Shore designer series paper - and used the Easter sentiment from the 'Suite Sentiments' set on a Very Vanilla banner, with the real focal point for my card being my basket of flowers. I cut and layered my basket using the Basket Builder framelits then stamped my daffodils and peach flowers in Memento Black onto solid colour cardstock using the Basket Bunch set and cut the out with the co-ordinating framelits, finishing them with some Calypso Coral subtles candy dots. I love the Basket Bunch bundle, not only for the Easter eggs and bunny, but also the perfect daffodils (well, I am Welsh so it is to be expected!). The framelits make cutting out these little pieces so easy and offer some great layering options too.

I'm also linking up with those lovely ladies over at As You See It too - for me, there is nothing that says Spring more than daffodils. They are so bright and cheery and inexpensive and I love to have them cut in a vase, but also to see them along the banks and hedgerows as I drive around the countryside. At the moment there are rows and rows of them on my journey driving Ben to school - they never fail to brighten my day!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing what you create with our sketch this week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; I'm looking forward to a family lunch and maybe, just maybe, a sneaky visit into my craft room this afternoon. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Basket Bunch Photopolymer Bundle	Suite Sentiments Clear-Mount Stamp Set	By The Shore Designer Series Paper	So Saffron A4 Cardstock	Calypso Coral A4 Cardstock
Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad	Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies	Subtles Enamel Shapes
Soft Suede A4 Cardstock

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my turn to host again this week and I have a clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

I've had the need for a few baby cards recently - all girls, funnily enough, whereas the last time I had a run on baby cards it was all boys, funny how that happens! So I decided that this week's challenge would be a great opportunity to replenish my stock, especially as we have some great new Stampin' Up! baby sets in the Spring-Summer Catalogue. I decided to create two cards today, identical in design but one each in a boy and girl colour scheme, using this week's sketch over at CAS Colours and Sketches - I'm also linking up with the team over at TGIF Challenges where their challenge this week is also all things baby:

I couldn't wait to ink up my 'Moon Baby' stamp set again for my cards today - take a look, here's the baby boy card:

And here is the baby girl card:

Here's the low-down on today's cards:

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star - I stamped the moon baby onto Shimmery White cardstock and watercoloured them using my inks and aquapainters. I used my Stitched Shape Framelits to cut out my circle and added a layer of Clear Wink of Stella for added sparkle to my moon. I also added a gold metallic shape star to each of my cards for a fun detail.

Tone on Tone - To add interest to my background, I stamped the trio of stars randomly in the same colour ink as my cardstock base. This is a great way to add extra detail and interest whilst still keep your card clean and simple.

Blue For A Boy, Pink For A Girl - I used a duo of light and dark colours for each of my cards, with the darker colour for my card base and the lighter colour picked up in the banner. Here is my colour combination if you would like to save it:

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

I just love the images in the 'Moon Baby' stamp set - it makes for such cute baby cards! I can't decide which of these colour combinations I like the most - if you have a preference, why not let me know in the comments below - I love to hear your thoughts!

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing your clean and simple creations in the gallery this week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend - the James household is busy today with one of the James Juniors playing in a hockey tournament, whilst the other is attending a skills day in connection with school which will see him learning shooting and fencing (I think I'll be taking cover!!)

I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Moon Baby Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad	Shimmery White A4 Cardstock	Metallic Enamel Shapes
Rose Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Rose Red A4 Cardstock	Pink Pirouette A4 Cardstock	Pink Pirouette Classic Stampin' Pad	So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad
Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad	Dapper Denim A4 Cardstock	Dapper Denim Classic Stampin' Pad	Soft Sky A4 Cardstock	Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad
Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the wonderful Jaydee to host this week and she has a fun colour challenge for us to work with:

I love green, especially bright greens - Cucumber Crush is one of my all time favourites! - but for today's challenge I decided to go with an altogether more subtle green in Mint Macaron - take a look:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Succulent Garden - I chose to use a 'tricky' piece of designer series paper on my card today from the Succulent Garden pack. I have been at a loss as to how I should use some of the papers and patterns in this pack and I felt that this sheet in particular lent itself to a monochromatic card in green and white, so used is to cover my entire card front.

A Bold Sentiment - With such a busy paper pattern, I needed a simple, bold sentiment so I chose this bold thank you from the 'Thankful Thoughts' stamp set. I stamped in Mint Macaron onto Whisper White and I used my Stitched Shape Framelits to add a little interest to my otherwise plain circle. With the exception of my row of stamped cacti inside my card and on the front of my co-ordinating envelope, this is all the stamping to feature on my card.

Triple Banners That Sparkle - I added a trio of banners to anchor my sentiment circle, one each in green and white and the third in Mint Macaron glimmer paper, the latest in the Sale-A-Bration free product offering. The sparkle and texture of the glimmer paper introduces another element yet is still in keeping with the overall monochromatic feel of my card.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

So a super simple card today, but one with a very calming colour scheme that I hope Jaydee will appreciate.

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing what you create with this week's colour palette. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Succulent Garden Designer Series Paper	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies	Thankful Thoughts Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Banner Triple Punch
Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock	Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad	Glitzerpapier-Set 6" X 6" (15,2 X 15,2 Cm)

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! My good friend LeAnne is the hostess this week and she has a sketch for us to work with:

Now you know me - I love a good sketch and this one is a keeper! I had a couple of ideas for this sketch and made two quite different cards. The one I'm sharing today is very much in keeping with my style (maybe that's why it won the James family vote 2 to 1 when I conducted a quick poll!) I went with my signature 'clean and layered' style and took the opportunity to make another card using my 'Perfect Mix' stamp set - take a look:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

It's In The Detail - My card today is my usual clean and layered style. I toyed with adding some additional background pattern or even designer series paper, however the size of my circle elements would have made this too busy. Instead I opted to create detail in other ways: I used my circle Stitched Shape Framelits to cut out my stamped images and layered these onto some punched circles to add a thin border of colour. I also used the partial die cutting technique to add interest by allowing part of the image to overhang the circle. The mixer I inked using my Stampin' Write marker so that I could omit the sentiment that goes with it. I also stamped my oven glove onto coloured cardstock and fussy cut it before popping up on a dimensional for added colour and impact.

Rule of Threes - It is a known principle that things that come in threes are somehow more satisfying or more effective than other numbers. LeAnne's sketch uses three circular elements; I also added a trio of enamel shapes to echo my layered circles and continue the harmony of my card.

A Perfectly Purple Colour Combination - I love purple but it's not a colour I use often on a card, so I chose to use a combination of purples and neutrals today for a change - here it is if you'd like to try it too:

This is such a great stamp set! I love the punny sentiments but if you, like me, are a baker then you will find so many uses for these images.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

 **To be updated - Stampin' Up! Website currently unavailable due to overrunning maintenance work. Online ordering currently offline.**

You can see all of my Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing what you create with our sketch this week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; I'm off to spend the day at the swimming pool as Rebecca is racing in her rescheduled Counties Competition. I don't know which I'd rather - the gale-force icy winds I experienced as I stood outside watching her play in her netball match yesterday morning or the sauna-like temperatures of the swimming pool today! The things us mothers do for love!. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

To be updated - Stampin' Up! Website currently unavailable due to overrunning maintenance work.

Today I'm sharing a card for the current challenge over at As You See It -  so happy to see these fabulous ladies back up and running and thank you for choosing me for the Featured Artist spot last week with this card! 

My second colour challenge this week - a rare thing! I find with colours as my starting point it takes me longer to come up with an idea (so glad that AYSI is on a two week challenge schedule now, it gives my ideas time to percolate!) I had so much fun making my card for Nance's challenge over at The Paper Players a couple of weeks ago (you can see that card here) and received such a lot of interested comments about the technique that I used - hot glue embossing - I thought I would make another card using the same idea but this time inspired by the AYSI challenge photo, I created a moonscape over the water - take a look:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

A Fun Technique - I used the same layout and technique as for my previous card here, but this time embossed my hot glue in silver with a moon in my pinky-purple twilight sky. I then blended the pink and purple with the Dapper Denim blue for the water and reflection below the horizon using my re-inkers and aquapainter. I added a liberal does of Clear Wink of Stella to the sea to finish - this adds a wonderful sparkle that is difficult to see in the photo, but trust me, it's there!

Love Sparkles - The colours of this card I thought lent themselves to a more romantic card, so I decided to use the sparkly 'Love' sentiment from the Love Sparkles stamp set and turn this into an anniversary card for my husband since it was our 18th wedding anniversary yesterday. I'm not sure my husband was as impressed with my handiwork, but then I think he sees so many of my cards theses days he just takes it all in his stride! 

All Heart - I added a tiny pink enamel heart shape to finish my card in keeping with my theme and also stamped the inside of the card and the envelope to co-ordinate.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

So what do you think - does the card say 'romance' to you? I'd love to hear your comments and thoughts below.

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Love Sparkles Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Embossing Buddy	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder	Aqua Painters	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock
Watercolor Paper	Dapper Denim Classic Stampin' Ink Refill	Flirty Flamingo Classic Stampin' Ink Refill	Sweet Sugarplum Classic Stampin' Ink Refill	Silver Foil Sheets

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the lovely Laurie to host this week and she has a clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

So I have a slight confession: if you read my blog post on Friday you may have been expecting something else today! I had a moment of inspiration for a sentiment-based card on Friday and was so pleased with myself when it was finished. All was well until I came to load it up onto the Paper Players blog and I remembered this week was 'clean and simple' week and my card definitely wasn't! So I will share that card with you another day and in the meantime I took the opportunity to make another card using one of the great sentiment-based sets in the current Spring-Summer catalogue - take a look:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Cake Crazy - The Cake Crazy stamp set is a fun cake-building stamp set with lots of words. I made my cake stack entirely out of words, coloured to co-ordinate with my side strips of designer series paper for a fun, unisex birthday card.

Party With Balloons - I used some balloon-patterned Party Animal Designer Series Paper to border the edges of my central panel and tie in with my Emerald Envy baker's twine and fun balloon embellishment. After all, what's a party without balloons?

Add A Banner - I added a little stepped banner in Pacific Point to my card to top off my cake - whilst not designed to co-ordinate, the photopolymer stamp sits perfectly into the banner shape for easy co-ordination. 

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing your clean and simple creations in the gallery this week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; we have basketball this morning (riding high on last week's regional-qualifying tournament win!) and then a social lunch with the swim squad - should be fun. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Cake Crazy Photopolymer Stamp Set	Party Animal Designer Series Paper	Party Animal Embellishments	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Emerald Envy Solid Baker's Twine
Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad	Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad	Tangerine Tango Classic Stampin' Pad	Emerald Envy Classic Stampin' Pad	Pacific Point A4 Cardstock
Duet Banner Punch	White Stampin' Emboss Powder	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the super-sweet and talented Nance to host this week and she has a fun colour challenge for us to work with:

I absolutely love Nance's colour combination this week - so unusual! I considered a variety of things to do with my card - mostly floral - but decided to be brave and try something different: hot glue embossing. I used this week's sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch as it had a perfect vertical panel for my design - take a look:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Hot glue embossing is a fun technique to combine with watercolouring. The idea is simply that you take your hot glue gun and 'draw' a pattern onto a piece of watercolour paper. Once set, you reheat the glue with your heat tool, sprinkle with embossing powder then reheat to set. I decided that I would draw a sunset with my glue gun, by creating the sun on the horizon and then some reflection and I heat embossed this with copper embossing powder.

I then used my aquapainter and Blushing Bride and Smoky Slate reinkers to colour my sky and water. I finished my card with a sentiment  from Flourishing Phrases, which I also heat embossed in copper. Finally I used a piece of copper foil to border my sentiment and watercoloured panel. 

This card is rather abstract for me, yet such fun to create and I think it makes a lovely sympathy card - I've been needing a few too many of these lately. So what do you think? Is this a technique you would like to try?

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing what you create with this week's colour palette. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; we are attending a basketball match this afternoon with Ben captaining his team (hopefully to victory!) I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Copper Foil Sheets	Watercolor Paper	Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Ink Refill
Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Ink Refill	Flourishing Phrases Clear-Mount Stamp Set